Sketches of Spain

I’m always optimistic that I’ll be able to post along the way during a travel workshop but that rarely works out. Between teaching all day and group dinners, there’s barely time to clean and refill my palette. But now that I have a bit of a rest week before my next workshop in Greece begins, it’s a good time to share my sketches of Spain, and clean that dirty palette.

If you don’t know where the Costa Brava is, it’s the rocky coastline starting north of Barcelona and going all the way to France. The region is rich both in coastal villages and medieval towns, so there’s no lack of subjects to sketch. In fact, with just one week there, I felt like we barely scratched the surface. There were panoramas we didn’t get to, plunging views from hilltops that we missed, narrow sunlit alleys, and beaches full of bathing beauties. But I had a really talented and extremely hard-working group of sketchers with me, so we still managed to cover some territory. And as always, Jackie and Valerie from French Escapade take such great care of us and make it really easy for me to focus on teaching.

I brought along my new A4 size Hahnemuhle 100% cotton book for this workshop, and it was the right choice. It’s smooth enough for ink and great for pure watercolour, and I’m especially happy that the colours I chose for these Mediterranean vistas retained their vibrancy. It’s definitely my new favourite book.

Two from Barcelona

The last time I visited Barcelona was in 2013. It was my first time in the city, and also my first time teaching at an Urban Sketchers symposium. I remember loving the city, and seeing a fair bit of it too, but what I remember most is how nervous I was about teaching for the first time at such a big event. I sketched in a few iconic spots — in front of the Sagrada Familia, and also on the Plaça Catalunya — but there were lots of things I didn’t get to sketch. I also didn’t get to visit any museums.

This week I’m doing a bit of catch up. I have two days here (not counting the first sleep-deprived day when we landed) before I meet my workshop group and we head north towards the Costa Brava. After a visit to the Museu Picasso, we spent a bit of time sitting on the plaza in front of the Barcelona Cathedral. I remember hoping to but never finding the time to draw this ornate 14th century Gothic treasure on my first visit here. This time, it was sad to round the corner into the Pla de la Seu square and see that the whole top of the building is covered in scaffolding and shrouded in a massive ad for a Samsung Galaxy tablet, but hey, I sketched that too.

After a visit to the Maritime Museum, we sat in the shade of a palm and I sketched a guy sitting in the shade of a palm. I was going to add in the building in the distance but I think the composition is more interesting without it.

Sunday on the dock

Before a sketchbook gets to come along with me to a workshop, it needs to go through my rigorous testing process. Sketchbooks are heavy and I don’t want to bring one that won’t get used. The big questions are: does it work well with ink AND does it take the paint well. For the past few months, I’ve been testing out the new Hahnemuhle 100% cotton sketchbooks in both landscape and portrait A4 size. I’ve drawn Alice in ink, I’ve painted several florals including this one in grey ink and wash, and yesterday I took it out to sketch at the boat club.

It’s starting to get a little cool in Montreal, and I was out there late in the day, so my sketching session was a bit frantic. There’s no attempt at good composition here. Just a basic workout to see how saturated the colours are, how many washes I can layer and how the texture of the paper feels (this is smoother paper than in an Etchr sketchbook), etc. I am liking this book more and more. As with every new paper or sketchbook I try, it takes some getting used to. For example, a more textured paper will require a wetter brush, and a thicker pen. But I like the smoother feel of this paper, and it can sure take a beating. I think it will take graphite really well too, if I decide to do some pencil drawings. This book, in both formats, will definitely be in my bag the next time I teach.

Livingston lane

I’ve always loved views down lanes and alleys in different cities. Montreal’s lanes are wonderful in summer when you can get a peek into people’s gardens, but even better in winter after a snowfall when the shadows come down the fences and across the ground. In Livingston, Montana, I discovered some great lanes and back alleys too, but the views are a little different than in my city. There’s often a backdrop of mountains and occasionally some unexpected structures like this wooden grain elevator right in the middle of town. I painted this in Payne’s Grey and Lemon Yellow, which makes a beautiful green, and hopefully from this I will do a larger, full-colour watercolour.

Livingston, Montana

The town of Livingston, Montana is my kinda town. Besides the very warm welcome we received from the Livingston Business District Association, we also discovered that it has a great main street, interesting and detailed buildings to sketch, top-notch coffee, and most importantly, a ton of vintage signs that are obviously lovingly-maintained and cherished by the town. We spent a morning sketching them. I didn’t finish the page in my sketchbook, but that’s fine because it means I have to go back there.

We also spent the afternoon on Main Street sketching people, cars and storefronts — including Tru North Coffee. It was a quiet day in town but I managed to sketch one guy while he waited for his family to join him outside.

As I mentioned, it was pretty quiet in town, so our group made the front page of The Livingston Enterprise. In the photo, you can see why I like the place: benches AND wide sidewalks that are shaded most of the day. Ideal conditions for urban sketchers!

Near and far in Paradise

The views along the Yellowstone River in Montana are almost too beautiful to paint. Looking at this scene early one morning, I wondered how I could capture all of this with my paintbrush — the fast-moving river, the distant mountains, the yellow hills, trees both near and far — but the answer is always by thinking about values. In fact, the late-summer scenes I saw in Montana were often a study in values and I could have spent the week just painting in Payne’s grey. In this valley, no matter which way you look, everything is about the near and the far because there is always a backdrop of hills in the distance. Colour is secondary, in this place, at this time of year.

The first step in a scene like this is to break down the puzzle pieces (and there were many of them) into a value pattern. My pattern is quite simple: a few pencil lines to break down the rectangle into big shapes, followed by a single colour sketch (in this case Neutral Tint) of the five values that I might use to paint the scene. No details in this, just big shapes. Once that is done, I have a roadmap I can work with for the colour version. And if I’m lucky, a little flexibility with detail to add in a few fishermen too.

Montana reflections

When an opportunity to teach a workshop in Montana’s Paradise Valley was presented to me several years ago, I couldn’t say no. I’ve always wanted to visit that scenic state. Of course the original week was in 2020, but when things opened up recently the offer was made again and I said yes for the second time. I’m sure glad I did. Picture a wide valley, over fifty miles long, with the Yellowstone River winding through the middle of it. The Absaroka Range is on the east side and the Gallatin Range on the west. If the setting of the movie A River Runs Through It comes to mind, you’ve got it. We spotted mule deer and osprey every day, and enjoyed sunrise and sunset looking up at Emigrant Peak. We even made the drive to Gardiner to see the north entrance of Yellowstone National Park, and despite the fact that the road was closed due to the recent floods, I still felt a sense of awe gazing out over the grassy plains and the Roosevelt Arch. The valley was as beautiful as I had imagined it.

We spent the first day of the workshop on the property (a private residence) and sketched the views around the pond. It was a windless day so I had to invent a little movement in the water, but the lesson was mostly about reflections and using one of my favourite limited palettes (Hansa Yellow, Alizarin Crimson and Ultramarine Blue). My only regret is that I didn’t get to add in the deer that appeared in the distance to watch us, but my sketch was done by that time. I’ll post more of my Montana sketches in the next few days. This one was done in my Etchr A4 Sketchbook.

Heron Pond

This week I stopped by Heron Pond at the Technoparc Oiseaux to see how the wetlands were faring. Last year I documented the pond in a drier state after a sinkhole had drained the water. This year, I was happy to see that there’s lots more water and dozens of ducks and geese feeding there.

It’s not easy to get to this viewing spot. The path through tall grasses and bullrushes is quite narrow, but once you get there, it’s worth the trouble of carrying all my gear and setting up my easel. It’s a secret spot in the middle of the city. I prefer the view in the autumn when there’s more variety in the colours of the vegetation but at least there was some purple loosestrife blooming in the distance, and that helped to break up all the green.

Old Montreal and old Santa Fe

After an appointment in Old Montreal, I had a few minutes to sketch before I had to move my parked car. A park bench, flanked by two colourful planters, caught my eye. After I had drawn the planter on the left, and had just started drawing the edge of the bench, a guy in a bright orange t-shirt sauntered over and sat down to catch some of the morning sun. What a gift! I quickly sketched him in and continued moving across the page. By the time I had drawn the other planter he was gone. Drawing time: somewhere between 5 and 10 minutes. Pen: this one. Colour added at home.

I love drawing in cities, and this past May I had so much fun drawing people (and other things) on the plaza in Santa Fe. That’s why I’m so excited to go back there next April with my co-conspirators James Richards, Uma Kelkar and Paul Heaston, with whom I recently taught at the MISA campus on Madeleine Island, Wisconsin.

The Urban Sketching Southwest Retreat is a five-day, sketching all day long type of workshop. You’ll get to spend a full day with each instructor, and there will also be lots of time for socializing with other sketchers, exploring the city and enjoying the regional cuisine (like my favourite green chile salsa). If you’ve never visited Santa Fe, here’s your chance. The city of mostly adobe structures is compact and walkable, with the most remarkable concentration of galleries devoted to art and Southwest culture I’ve ever seen. The dates for this workshop are April 17-23, 2023, and I have a feeling this will sell out quickly. Have a look at the workshop descriptions here.

The perfect day

For me, a perfect day is windless and sunny. I find a place to park and I set up in the shade of my car. The lake is like a mirror and there are no boats going by to disturb the reflections. I’m sure the sailor who owns the boat would not agree with my definition of a perfect day, but that’s ok.

On this perfect day, I use mostly three colours from my palette: Cobalt Blue, Alizarin Crimson and Hansa Yellow. With these, I can mix the soft blue of the sky, the bright greens of the trees and the neutrals of the rocks on the breakwater. There’s some diluted Yellow Ochre in my first sky wash (Hansa Yellow would turn the sky green) and a bit of Cerulean Blue in the sky. For the darkest darks, I mix in a bit of Ultramarine since Cobalt is a little too weak to do the job. Painted on quarter sheet of Arches 140lb Rough paper.